Dhammacakkapavattana Sutta - The turning of the Dhamma Wheel on this human realm

The Dhammapada is a very important work and perhaps the best known in Theraveda Buddhist literature. It contains 423 Pali verses uttered by the Buddha on various occasions to a wide range of audience. The following is a verse selected from this great work. It is in simple wordings to facilitate comprehension, the essential purport, however, remains intact. The sweet smell of flowers does not blow against the wind. But the fragrance of virtue does. Truly, the virtuous man pervades all directions with their fragrance of his virtues.

In this lifetime, I will search for positives in the surrounding world. I will try to direct my person towards positive actions. I will try as much not to get caught up with negative stuffs - negative discussions, situations, places, company, people. To stay away from negatives, I will constantly remind myself how I must keep conscious and pose a simple question: is it any conducive to associate in this discussion or situation or place or people?

There is a good person in the neighborhood whom I meet and like to connect with. I was offered a bowl of instant-noodles for breakfast at his place last weekend. We munched the noodles. And we munched on a few good topics related to Buddhism. There were many good questions. With my poor responses, I doubt if I helped him with his questions at all. It's true I have been keeping Buddhist texts close to my heart for a while now. Many people will know this. Also, I have been publicly planning about ordaining into the Sangha for a while now. Many including my neighbor will know this as well. It's probably why he thought it proper to pose a few questions to me. Well, so much I read or follow Buddhism, I am a mere dirt. I am not skillful yet, I consider myself as a coarse rock that requires lots of polishing, washing and re-polishing and re-washing. Hopefully, I will be a polished stone over time. I will keep up my interest and efforts in Buddhism and if not in the near future, I will try to become one in the far future so that I can take good questions similar to those posed last weekend :-))

LOOKING long way back at the past, I believe that all the good work up to the point of remarkable enlightenment were personal achievements of a young person more than 2500 years ago on this planet. The young man was named Siddhartha, a prince, who let forgo royal pleasures to launch himself to an wandering, ascetic lifestyle searching for the Answer, Truth, Dhamma. After long, enduring six years of ascetic practice, the Bodhisattva attained enlightenment. The Dhamma he realized is very profound. It can not be easily understood else we would all be enlightenment by now today, else Siddhartha wouldn't have taken six years also. Prior to attaining enlightenment, Siddhartha had to spend twelve hours in a row without moving from his seat after already experimenting for six years with wrong methods.

According to my understanding, the teachings of The Tathagatha took the form of a religion known as Buddhism only after The Tathagatha reached out the message of the Dhamma to others, that was to be followed, practiced and propagated and kept secured and preserved by a spiritual order referred as the Sangha. The Buddha was alone after his enlightenment. The Buddha was at first reluctant to teach the Dhamma that he had realized. He considered, "This Dhamma is profound and goes against the flow of sensual desire; most people are strongly attached to and immersed in sensual pleasures." However, he reasoned that some were not too strongly attached, and were already searching for truth. They would be able to understand it. So he decided to teach the Dhamma first to the five ascetics who accompanied him while he was practicing self-mortification during his earlier years. The group of five lived at Isipatana then, where The Buddha found them and preached the Dhamma. The Wheel of The Dhamma was set in motion and the event is recounted in the Dhammacakkapavattana Sutta.

The Dhammacakkapavattana Sutta begins as:

"Evam me suttam — Ekam samayam Bhagavā Bārānasiyam viharati Isipatane Migadāye. Tatra kho Bhagavā pañcavaggiye bhikkhū āmantesi"
"Thus have I heard — At one time the Blessed One was staying at the deer park in the Sage's Grove. Then the Blessed One addressed the group of five ascetics"

"Dveme, bhikkhave, antā pabbajitena na sevitabbā. Katame dve? Yo cāyam kāmesu kāmasukhallikānuyogo hīno gammo pothujjaniko anariyo anatthasamhito, yo cāyam attakilamathānuyogo dukkho anariyo anatthasamhito. Ete kho, bhikkhave, ubho ante anupagamma majjhimā patipadā Tathāgatena abhisambuddhā cakkhukarani ñānakarani upasamāya abhiññāya sambodhāya nibbānāya samvattati."
"These two extremes, monks, should not be followed by one gone forth. Which two? Sensual indulgence, which is low, vulgar, worldly, ignoble, and unprofitable; and self-mortification, which is painful, ignoble, and unprofitable. Avoiding these two extremes, monks, the Tathāgata has discovered the Middle Path that produces vision and knowledge, and leads to tranquility, higher knowledge, enlightenment, and nibbāna."

*I bow 3 times before Bhikkhu Pesala and Phra Bhasakorn for allowing me to use some of their material on this blog.
*My good neighbor in New Delhi is Paritosh Chakma, freelance writer, professional human rights activist associated with ACHR.